New season starting

[Viper]

Allowing folks to access their boats to do some tasks can be a good thing but here's a prime example of why it's not; I was at a marina last week that allows folks in to set up their boats. I had to go to the washroom, and when I finished doing my thing, I was washing my hands when two guys walk in with no masks on and made no effort to keep their distance. Others that day came in under the pretense of working on their boats but just stayed on board all day on their back decks drinking. Then as if things were back to normal and fully staffed, were through garbage bags on the lawn for staff to take away, harbour staff that aren't even back to work yet. On top of that, they complain at about some services not being available yet. Unfortunately it's the idiots that ruin it for everybody and is why I don't agree with allowing customers in. These type of people will keep this pandemic going for years.

[bud37]

I agree....when you create a hub you have no control over what comes from the end of the spokes.....marinas have a lot of spokes so to speak. Hang in and be careful even with the shots.

[km1125]

It's just really silly. On this side of the dotted line in the lake, they tried to shut down ramps and marinas (and did for a bit last year) but the "science" just doesn't support the need. Most folks on boats are largely isolated from other people, much like if they just stayed home. Even prepping and launching the boat you'd rarely, if ever, come close to others working in the same facility.

[RGrew176]

Glad that some of you have been able to launch and start your seasons. The weather here has not been decent enough for me to get down to my boat to start the process. I only have Friday and Saturday to do that and the weather just has not cooperated yet.

[Viper]

Source of the post ... Most folks on boats are largely isolated from other people....Even prepping and launching the boat you'd rarely, if ever, come close to others working in the same facility.

You'd think that would be the case KM but I'm around enough marinas and can tell you that that's definitely not the reality. Gatherings of large boating crowds is the norm in marinas and on the waters in anchorages.

In the work environment, even if you're aware of distancing, inevitably there are circumstances where you have to be literally intertwined with a coworker to get something done, especially when working with heavy hardware in a confined space. You're right, you'd also think launch crews would have no problem distancing but even they come across circumstances that require being right next to one another. At least with a coworker, you're relying on mutual respect for one another hoping that everyone on the team is doing their best to stay safe when they're away from work so they don't bring the virus to their workplace and infect everyone. Watching the habits of customers at a marina indicates to me that they can't be taking the same precautions.

The fear with a lot of marina workers is that they tend to be in rural areas where case numbers are much lower but the boaters are usually coming from densely populated cities where the percentage of infections are way higher which runs the risk of bringing it to the marina. Heck I'm afraid of touching keypads to get through marina gates so I sterilize right away. You just don't know about the previous person that went through.

Ya if everyone was smart about it and actually believed it's a serious/real virus that is easily spread, we might have put this to bed months ago. The reality is that there's a lot of people out there that don't believe it's real or they feel entitled and have the to hell with everyone else mentality when it comes to something they need, feel their rights outweigh everyone and everything else in the world. In talking with a fellow tech the other day, a customer fought with marina management insisting he be allowed to come and hook up his own batteries, so they let him in to do that. Theoretically it should end there but the reality is that he then had no power and insisted a tech go on board to fix the problem while he was there. They should drop everything they're doing in a safe space and put themselves in a space where they have no idea what the customer has touched, whether the customer has played it safe before coming to the marina, etc. This goes on all the time.

With recent news about launch ramps and people not being allowed to go out on their little fishing boats, I originally thought ya what's wrong with that? But after giving it some thought and remembering what happened last Spring, the problem is there are inevitable several services associated with it. In Spring of last year, the warning/fear was that with very few boaters on the water to assist, an emergency in one that was out on the water would pose unnecessary risk to first responders. Of course that didn't matter to some but the result was just that, first responders had to be taken away from other duties on land and ended up having to go out and rescue some people on the water. Recently, when some ice fishermen were stranded on a section that broke away from the main sheet, the biggest problem the first responders encountered wasn't how they were going to carry out the rescue when they got there, it was after they got there and realized not one person in the crowd had a mask. The issue isn't just the mask, it's everything else associated with that mentality that's the concern when you have to then bring them into your vehicle.

Ya theory is one thing, the reality is usually far from it.

[RGrew176]

One can only hope that this Covid thing will eventually pass. Something tells me it is going to be with us for some time. On Friday I do get my 2nd dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I wear my mask where I am obligated to do so. Not sure how much more I can do.